Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a control apparatus that manages history information of a job for producing a three-dimensional object, a management system, a control method, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a three-dimensional (3D) printer has been rapidly becoming common. The 3D printer is a collective term referring to control apparatuses that produces a three-dimensional (3D) object. A technique regarding the 3D modeling is also called additive manufacturing. On the other hand, a two-dimensional (2D) printer refers to printing apparatuses that print a target in a planar manner on paper (a sheet) or the like.
Examples of a production method employable by the 3D printer include Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Stereo Lithography (STL), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), an inkjet method, and the like. A consumable material made of a material according to these production methods is used in the production of the object.
The 3D printer has existed conventionally, but has been rarely distributed on the general market because a mainstream thereof has been large-scale machinery for business use and usage thereof has been highly professional, and further, a price thereof has been extremely expensive. However, the recent technical innovation has promoted a reduction in size of casing and improvement of operability of software, and has advanced development of affordable products usable even by general consumers. Further, the enterprise 3D printer for business use has also started to achieve the enhancement of the performance and the reduction in cost compared to the conventional one, so that many companies have introduced the 3D printer in a manufacturing process of a prototype and a part of a product in recent years.
In the field of the 2D printer, there is a job history audit system discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-008398, which integrally manages history information of a job, such as copying, facsimile (FAX) transmission and reception, and printing, executed by the 2D printer, with use of a data server. The history information of the job is, in particular, a user who executes the print job, a date and time when the print job is executed, the number of printed pages, image data processed as a print target by the printing apparatus according to the execution of the job, and the like. The history information of the job can be referred to by searching for such history information of the job accumulated in the data server.
For the 3D printer, it is also desired to attain a system in which history information of a job for the production of the three-dimensional object is accumulated and managed, in a similar manner to the 2D printer.
In addition to attribute information such as the user who executes the job and the date and time when the job is executed, the job history management system for the 3D printer should also handle unique information that is not handled by the 2D printer as the history information. Examples of the unique information include model data expressing the three-dimensional object, and data indicating a target to be produced such as a control command including a production setting included in the job for the production of the three-dimensional object. Further, a captured image during the production of the three-dimensional object should also be handled as the history information. Especially, handling the captured image recorded during the production as the history information facilitates identification of an event that has caused a failure that has occurred during the production, and further, ensures security.
Generally, the 3D printer takes several hours for the production, whereby a data size of the captured image recorded during the fabrication as described above may become large. For example, if, after completion of the production, the captured image in which this production process is entirely recorded is output to the data server that manages the history information of the job at once, it may take an extremely long time until completion of this output. If the 3D printer is powered off by the user for the purpose of, for example, post-processing of the 3D printer after the end of the production, the output of the history information cannot be completed, and, in the worst case, the above-described captured image may end up being unable to be accumulated in the job history management system as the history information.